A World with Monsters
by chelszy
Summary: Kaoru is a human. She was happy and dating. Until the night she discovers her boyfriend is a half-werewolf, half-magician. Injured and scared, she runs from his assault. Into the territory of another monster.


_Kaoru…._ Warm hands slid over the contours of her body, sending thrills through her nerves.

_Kaoru…Kaoru…_ Lips caught hers, warm and slightly chapped but pleasurable. Skin slid against skin as she felt the pleasure build in her stomach, in tune with the movement of his fingers. _Oh, clever, clever fingers._

_Kaoru… Kaoru… Kaoru..._ She rode the waves of pleasure wrecking her body, crying out her pleasure to him. She kissed him again, to express her gratitude, when his teeth latched onto her bottom lip, and bit, hard.

With a cry, she wrenched herself away, but firm hands on her waist forced her against him. Suddenly, they were more akin to restraints than the warm embrace of a lover. Something sharp dug into her skin, and she looked down to watch nail turn into claws, digging into her skin and drawing blood.

"Enshii!"

Red, hungry eyes watched her. A sadistic smile graced his mouth, her blood all over his lips and dripping down his chin. She vaguely registered her lip still bleeding. And those lips moved: "Kaoru!"

_Let me devour you! _

With a scream, Kaoru snapped awake, away from a nightmare so realistic to what happened a few days ago. Thunder boomed and she jumped, eyes flashing around to survey her surroundings.

A small bedside table stood next to the bed she slept in. Her phone and some toiletries sat on the table. Dim light came from a standing lamp next at the corner of the room, casting its warm light on an open suitcase on the floor, and the sink in the toilet, whose door stood ajar.

Heart beating in her throat, Kaoru slid off the bed, wincing when its springs creaked loudly in the silence.

Her hand found the switch and she flipped on the lights in the room and the toilet. No crazed mythical beast greeted her, only a toilet bowl and a small area for showering. Gulping, she moved to wash her face in the sink.

Blindly, she reached for a towel to dry her face. That is, before her appearance in the mirror caught her attention.

Eyes wide, she stared at the scared, fearful girl in the mirror. Her eyes were sunken, dark circles embracing her eyes from the lack of sleep. Once deep blue eyes, that could have held happiness, were now dead, and a large bruise where _he_ had backhanded her, was forming on her cheek.

Turning her head to the side, she pushed her midnight tresses to her opposite shoulder to stare at the three deep gorges that spanned from the back of her jaw to the base of her neck, until their red marks blurred. She has similar markings on her waist, from where he had dug them into her skin. But those were shallow compared to _this._

After non-stop driving for 2 full days, she had stopped at a convenience store to buy alcohol and a sewing kit. Then she found a cheap hotel before she drank half the bottle. Then she doused the wounds in alcohol and sewed them close. The pain was so excruciating, she'd teetered on the edge of consciousness. Thankfully, she only fainted after knotting and cutting the final strand with shaky fingers.

Now, the split skin, held together by thread was glowing an eerie red, as it had been when she woke up from her fainting spell. She didn't know why, but she figured wounds inflicted by… half werewolves wouldn't appear normal either. _As long as it didn't kill her._

The pattering sound of rain falling on the roof caused her to look up, fear crossing her expression again. Her ears strained for any sound out of the ordinary.

It had been a rainy day when_ it_ happened. When her entire life was changed and she discovered that monsters were real.

She officially hated rainy days.

After the storm, Kaoru hopped into her car again for another long drive, to heaven knows where.

That was when she passed the sign that pointed her in the direction of Chicago. Frowning, she pulled up on to the road shoulder, fingers closing around the hilt of the Japanese sword that sat in her lap. It had saved her life, she never went anywhere without it anymore.

Sword fighting wasn't something that you learnt in a day. She had been practicing from young, learning from her late father, because she loved the grace and stealth that swordsmen had. Now she had something else to love about it: practicality. It was her safety net, her protection against the world.

Her grip on the hilt tightened slightly before it relaxed, and she turned on her phone to call the familiar number. Misao's number.

She held her breath, eyeing her rearview and side mirrors for any unusual movement. Misao picked up after five rings.

"Kaoru?" Her friend's normally loud voice came through in a whisper.

"Misao." All the breath whooshed out as Kaoru spoke her best friend's name. "Is it safe to come over?"

"Kaoru… He came over yesterday to check if you were around." Fear flashed through Kaoru, and her hand flew to the hilt of the sword again. As she came back to her senses, Misao was still speaking. "….don't want to be heard. Come by the back gate, and we'll talk in my safe house, okay?"

Swallowing, Kaoru nodded. "Okay."

"How far are you from here?"

"Give me 4 hours."

"I'll send people out of you don't reach by then, deal?" Worry laced with her friend's voice didn't suit the smallish, happy-go-lucky girl Kaoru knew.

"Deal."

The whole time she drove, Kaoru's right hand never left the hilt of her sword.

Parking her car in an inconspicuous corner, Kaoru slung the sword around her waist and flipped open the trunk of her car to take out her luggage.

She moved to the door, eyes flashing around nervously, as she knocked on the door.

It opened, and she caught a flash of unusual red before she was unsheathing her sword, wrist flicking.

Her sword met resistance as the unknown man pulled his sword, sheath and all, upwards, defending his own throat. The recoil sent her sword, and her body into the door frame, and he was on her in an instant, hand grasping her wrist and nose to nose to her. Golden eyes stared into Kaoru's own and she fought to fight the strong wave of nausea that washed through her.

Her left hand was curled into a fist, preparing to slam it into his face, when Misao's cry sounded. She couldn't see her friend, but hearing her wasn't a problem. "Himura Kenshin! Remove your hands off of my friend this instant!"

This… Himura merely replied as if he weren't facing a shrieking monster called Misao. "She attacked first."

"I already told you to exit by the front door!" Kaoru couldn't help the involuntary shiver in reaction to Misao's high pitched shriek. She looked back up to watch a smile grace the lips of her assailant. Her heart was suddenly beating at her throat at their close proximity.

"I shall go and leave as I please, Misao." His next sentence held more venom that his facial expression, but his eyes told Kaoru that he meant it.

There was an exasperated sigh. "Fine, Kenshin, but let go of my friend. _Please_."

The firm hand around her wrist loosened, and pain radiated from the abused skin. She resisted the urge to massage the spot; they were going to add to her collection of present bruises.

Golden eyes surveyed her with slight amusement, before falling on her exposed neck. _Shit,_ Kaoru cursed mentally. The earlier impact of the recoil had sent her hair back from her shoulder, revealing the glowing red claw markings. Darkened eyes met hers for a moment, but before she could read his emotions, he was gone. And Kaoru was staring at an infuriated Misao.

"He's gone."

"He comes in occasionally for business with Aoshi. But he's alone most of the time, so thinking for others isn't on his list of priorities at the moment." Misao shrugged. Then concern flitted in her eyes as she surveyed Kaoru. They were fixated on the claw markings on her neck for a long time.

"You have to tell me everything, Kaoru." She finally said.

Kaoru nodded, frozen.

"We'll help as much as we can…"

"I managed to escape, Misao. I thought I was going to die, but I escaped…" Kaoru bit her lip as the tears escaped involuntarily. After Misao dragged her into their safe room, she didn't stop crying for a long time.


End file.
